1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to aquarium cleaners, and more particularly, to an automatic untethered aquarium bottom cleaner system.
2. Background Art
As it is well known to a pet fish hobbyist, a clean and healthy ecosystem free from excessive levels of nitrite and algae is key to prevent fish loss and is also more aesthetically pleasing than a neglected ecosystem. Numerous types of aquarium cleaners or filtration systems have been attempted in the past. A widespread solution for cleaning a tank involves using a filtration system where water is suctioned from a tank via an inlet nozzle, put through filtering element of charcoal and sponge, and returned to the tank via an exhaust tubing or by gravity in the form of a waterfall. In such a system, the inlet nozzle is usually statically positioned several inches below the water level and disposed on one end of the filtration system. The exhaust returns the filtered water on an opposing end of the filtration system. Such a system requires that the filtration system be placed outside of a tank, necessitating large cutouts and other modifications to a tank hood or cover before the installation of such a filtration system is possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,001,509 to Lin discloses an exemplary waterfall type filtration system that is mounted on a top edge of an aquarium. Such a filtration system relies on gravity of falling water in the immediate area just below the spillway in order to create agitation which drives water/debris mixture to the filtration intake. As such, areas outside of the influence of the falling water and intake remain uncleansed. It is also possible that debris within the influence of such filtration system is carried and deposited in areas outside of the agitation provided by the filtration system, thereby causing debris to be simply moved from one location to another within the tank.
Another widespread solution for cleaning a tank involves the use of a filtration system having a container that contains a filtering media. The container is disposed within a tank, usually at a corner or the base of the tank. Such a system usually relies on an aeration system to create negative pressure and sufficient agitation in order to draw in debris which can become entrapped in the filtering media. One common drawback to these statically positioned filtering systems lies in their inability to provide cleaning to the entire base area of a tank. Filtration systems such as these are typically large as they are designed to perform filtration over an extended period of time and a large tank base. Such large filtration systems can become unsightly and can take up a good part of a tank while creating traumatic experience to some pet fish due to the large disturbances caused by the water jets associated with such filtration systems. In addition, debris trapped in gravel further presents a challenge for such a static system to clean since increased local agitation of the debris is required to loosen the debris from the gravel which is not provided by any of the existing filtration system.
An aquarium may alternatively be cleaned manually. The inlet of a siphon hose is positioned where the debris is to be removed from manually. Often times, a user is required to position his/her hand in the water of the tank in order to properly guide the suction head. Since siphoned water is emptied into the drain without treatment or being reused, such a practice wastes water and not environmentally friendly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,129 to Powers discloses a gravel cleaner for aquariums that is composed of a hollow base member having a side wall, an open lower end adapted to seat in the particulate bed of a functioning aquarium with an air tube extending into the member and having a lower end positioned within the interior thereof to discharge air into the bed and agitate it and to create a vacuum in the base member with its side wall having apertures above the tube's lower end for water to enter the base member under the vacuum conditions therein and a water outflow tube at the side wall above the apertures with a disposable porous filter on the outer end of the outflow tube to entrap impurities from the discharging water. The positioning of the lower end of the hollow base member on the gravel is effected manually and external air supply is required to create the suction required to draw water into the cavity of the base member, thereby making this cleaner dependent upon external accessories and not self-contained for routine operation.
Suction heads guided by various crawler-type submersibles have been designed to traverse and clean the bottom of swimming pools. However, in order to provide suction to the bottom of a body of water, a power source is generally provided at the surface, thereby necessitating the use of a power cord that runs from above the water surface to the bottom of a swimming pool. In certain applications, the filtration system is disposed at or above the water surface. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,790 to Dolton which describes the use of an open-air filtration device to clean swimming pools and hot tubs. In this system, water containing debris is pumped to a level above the swimming pool or hot tub surface. The debris containing water is discharged through a spout into a filter tube. A filter element associated with the filter tube, and open to atmosphere filters the debris containing water by gravitational forces solely. The spout and filter tube are, optionally, attached to a pole that manually propels the suction unit. They may alternatively be attached to a floating platform that floats on the water surface of the pool or hot tub. The use of a scaled version of this type of cleaner in a fish tank environment is impractical since the positioning of a suction head is guided by a pole and communicates with the surface with a power cord and a suction hose, all of which runs the depth of the body of water. A fish tank environment is usually littered with various decorations or ornamentations which present snagging hazards to such equipment that tether the suction head.
In view of the foregoing drawbacks in the art, there exists a need for an aquarium cleaner which can adequately clean the entire base of an aquarium without creating undue trauma to pet fish, robbing valuable usable volume from an aquarium and/or presenting snagging hazards to an aquarium environment.